cloning a drive

[webbear]

Hi all!
I have a 100 Gb disk in the secundary IDE (only one disc instaled)
that I want to replace for a 120 Gb disk
In the 100Gb disk I have 3 partitions: C: (system) 30 Gb fat32 with
win XP, D: and E: both NTSF 35 Gb each.
My question is this: Can I clone the 100 Gb drive to the 120 Gb drive?
And if it is possible, after that, what shall i do to make the copy of
C in the new drive the active (boot) partition? If I uninstall the old
disk will that be enough?
And if so what happens with the partitions?
Can this be done within xp
I want to save the installation of windows.
I have another option that is this: I have a full image of C: on 3
DVDs that was made with norton ghost 2003. I can always remove the old
100 Gb disk and install the new 120 Gb, boot from the norton disk and
restore the image to the new disk. In this case my question is this
the image that I have made is from a fat32 30 Gb partiton in a 100 Gb
disk, can I restore that image to the new disk? or do I need to create
a 30 Gb partition first, on the new disk, in order to restore the
ghost image to. If I do this will the partition be active to boot from
or do I need to set it active first?
Shall I use the partition magic program?
Any help is very apreciated
Thanks
P. Monteiro

 

[Rod Speed]

I have a 100 Gb disk in the secundary IDE (only one disc instaled)
that I want to replace for a 120 Gb disk

In the 100Gb disk I have 3 partitions: C: (system) 30 Gb
fat32 with win XP, D: and E: both NTSF 35 Gb each.

My question is this: Can I clone the 100 Gb drive to the 120 Gb drive?

Yes. But cloning the entire physical drive may not be the
best approach depending on what you want to do about
the sizes of the current partitions on the bigger drive.

And if it is possible, after that, what shall i do to make
the copy of C in the new drive the active (boot) partition?

You wont need to do anything special if you clone
properly. Just ensure that for the first boot after the
clone is done only has the 120GB drive plugged in.

If I uninstall the old disk will that be enough?

You presumably mean unplug, not uninstall. Yes.

And if so what happens with the partitions?

Basically you will end up with the 3 partitions
occupying the first 100GB of the 120GB drive.

Thats no big deal if you are happy to have an
extra partition for the extra 20GB, you can create
that after you have cloned to the 120GB drive.

If you want to adjust the partition sizes and still have
3 partitions on the 120GB, its better to clone the
partitions one by one, adjusting their sizes as required.

Can this be done within xp

Not with just XP alone very conveniently.
You can use ghost to do the direct clone tho.

I want to save the installation of windows.

I have another option that is this: I have a full image
of C: on 3 DVDs that was made with norton ghost
2003. I can always remove the old 100 Gb disk and
install the new 120 Gb, boot from the norton disk
and restore the image to the new disk.

It is possible to go this route, but there isnt any real point.

In this case my question is this the image that I
have made is from a fat32 30 Gb partiton in a 100
Gb disk, can I restore that image to the new disk?
Yes.

or do I need to create a 30 Gb partition first, on the
new disk, in order to restore the ghost image to.

Nope, tho you can if you want to make it bigger on the new drive.

If I do this will the partition be active to
boot from or do I need to set it active first?
Shall I use the partition magic program?

You can, but it would be better to use ghost to
clone the 100GB drive to the 120GB drive directly.

 

[mark]

can ghost 2003 recognise different partitions inside a hard disk and
then make an image of the partition desired ?

I have a single hard drive with two partitions and want to store the
image from the first partition to the second partition and also be
able to restore this stored image back to the first partition if
required ?

 

[Groove]

mark said this...

can ghost 2003 recognise different partitions inside a hard disk and
then make an image of the partition desired ?
Yes.

I have a single hard drive with two partitions and want to store the
image from the first partition to the second partition and also be
able to restore this stored image back to the first partition if
required ?

I do this save almost daily. The restore less often thankfully. so Yes to
that one too.

 

[Rod Speed]

can ghost 2003 recognise different partitions inside a hard
disk and then make an image of the partition desired ?
Yep.

I have a single hard drive with two partitioos and want to store
the image from the first partition to the second partition and also be
able to restore this stored image back to the first partition if required ?

Yes. Thats the usual way to do images if you only have one physical
drive when the image files arent for backup in case the drive dies.

 

[mark]

what is the OS version ?

and what version of ghost are you using ?

thanks

 

[webbear]

Yes. But cloning the entire physical drive may not be the

best approach depending on what you want to do about
the sizes of the current partitions on the bigger drive.

Thank you for your very elucidating awnswer!

I just want to clone the C Partition, the data in the other partitions
I can copy and dispose in only one partition.
The problem is that I may have to clone the whole disk because ghost
only lets me clone the entire 100Gb drive to the 120 Gb drive.(I do
not know if this is the reason but destination disk is a dynamic disk,
and the 100 Gb is a basic disk )
If I try to choose only the C: partition, then the 120 Gb disk
becames grey in the destination panel and the destination options
available are the other partitions remaining on the 100 Gb. I have
not told before but the 120 Gb is not partitioned, it is a dynamic
disk in NTSF, it appears on the clone wizard as "DISK 2(dynamic disc)-
No gohst disk ID" and on the line below that one, in front of the
grey cube appears: "New volume(IDynamic disk partition" Shall I set
it back to basic first?
The fat32 C: partition after cloned to the ntsf disk remains in fat32?

Maybe the easy way is to clone the whole drive and the resize
partitions with partition Magic after.


Thanks for the help

 

[Rod Speed]

Thank you for your very elucidating awnswer!

I just want to clone the C Partition, the data in the other
partitions I can copy and dispose in only one partition.
OK.

The problem is that I may have to clone the whole disk because
ghost only lets me clone the entire 100Gb drive to the 120 Gb drive.

No it doesnt.

(I do not know if this is the reason but destination disk
is a dynamic disk, and the 100 Gb is a basic disk )
Likely.

If I try to choose only the C: partition, then the 120 Gb disk
becames grey in the destination panel and the destination options
available are the other partitions remaining on the 100 Gb. I have
not told before but the 120 Gb is not partitioned, it is a dynamic
disk in NTSF, it appears on the clone wizard as "DISK 2(dynamic disc)-
No gohst disk ID" and on the line below that one, in front of the
grey cube appears: "New volume(IDynamic disk partition" Shall I set
it back to basic first?
Yes.

The fat32 C: partition after cloned to the ntsf disk remains in fat32?
Yes.

Maybe the easy way is to clone the whole drive
and the resize partitions with partition Magic after.

Yes, you can do it that way too.

 

[Jim Walker]

You wont need to do anything special if you clone
properly. Just ensure that for the first boot after the
clone is done only has the 120GB drive plugged in.

Ron
I have seen this recommendation several times before and I don't
understand why it is necessary. I would just like to know what happens when
I boot the first time with both drives in. Also, if I remove the new drive
on the first boot is it ok to have the new drive in on later boots? If I am
cloning using Ghost or Drive Image I will probably do that in the DOS mode
after setting it up in Windows. I believe that the computer automatically
boots after the copying is completed. I would have to be right there to
catch it to prevent the boot up of the new drive. I am sure there are some
easier ways to do it but for me with the software provide like DI and Ghost
some of these operations aren't that simple.

 

[Rod Speed]

I have seen this recommendation several times
before and I don't understand why it is necessary.
I would just like to know what happens when
I boot the first time with both drives in.

Basically XP gets seriously confused if you boot off the
clone with the original drive visible on the first boot after
the clone has been made. It modifies the boot sequence
so it uses files off the clone and the original drive and
while that works for that boot, as soon as you remove
the original drive, either to put it in a different system
or just format it to use it for data storage, the boot wont
work anymore, because the files used for the boot
arent there anymore, even tho they are on the clone.

Also, if I remove the new drive on the first boot
is it ok to have the new drive in on later boots?

You dont need to do anything special if you continue to
boot off the original drive. There is only a problem if you
boot off the clone and thats what you would normally do
if you are replacing the original drive with a bigger one.

If I am cloning using Ghost or Drive Image I will
probably do that in the DOS mode after setting
it up in Windows. I believe that the computer
automatically boots after the copying is completed.

Usually if there was no problem with the job at the dos level.

I would have to be right there to catch
it to prevent the boot up of the new drive.

Yep, thats the main advantage with setting up the clone
job at the dos level after having booted the rescue floppys
or the distribution CD. It stops at the dos level after the
clone has been done so you can just come back to the
PC and turn it off so you can physically unplug the drive
for the first boot after the clone has been done.

I am sure there are some easier ways to do it

Yes, you can add a command line switch at the Win level with
Ghost to get it to pause once the dos level clone has been done.

but for me with the software provide like DI and
Ghost some of these operations aren't that simple.

Yeah, they're not that easy concepts to grasp, particularly
that fine detail of what to do with cloning and thats made
harder than it should be by an inadequate user interface
and on the whole lousy documentation in the manuals
for that particular operation, cloning an XP boot drive.

And its not a very safe operation either, it isnt hard to
clone the wrong way around and basically copy the crap
you dont want over the boot drive you intended cloning.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Ron
Once again thanks for the great answers.

Yes, 'Ron' is great, isn't he. We are so gratefull that 'Ron' is here to help us.
What 'Ron' doesn't know he will happily make up for us, what more can we want.

 

[Jim Walker]

Ron
Once again thanks for the great answers. Here are two fairly simple
additional questions. You wrote about the problem of Win XP booting with
the original and the clone both on the computer. It this a problem with
other OSs like Win 2000?
I have Drive Image 2002 and Ghost 2003. Is there another program that
is more straightforward to use. I have heard about Adronis True Image.
Does it solve the problems? Thanks.

 

[Rod Speed]

Ron
Once again thanks for the great answers. Here are two fairly
simple additional questions. You wrote about the problem of
Win XP booting with the original and the clone both on the
computer. It this a problem with other OSs like Win 2000?

Yes, with the NT/2K/XP family but not with the Win9x/ME family.

Basically because both familys do things
similarly within the family boot wise.

I have Drive Image 2002 and Ghost 2003. Is there another
program that is more straightforward to use. I have heard
about Adronis True Image. Does it solve the problems? Thanks.

Cant say I have tried it with TI. Since its an OS problem,
it would have to do something to stop the OS from getting
in that mess during the first boot after the clone is made.

Guess there is no real reason why it couldnt
modify the boot.ini etc in the clone appropriately.
Basically doing what say XP does if you boot the
clone with the original unplugged for the first boot.

 

[Groove]

mark said this...

what is the OS version ?

and what version of ghost are you using ?

Dual boot system xp home & 98se. Ghost 2003.

 

[mark]

I am using ghost exe.

and am choosing from Partition to Image.....
All source partitions are seen and I go ahead and choose the partition
that I required to be ghosted.
But when choosing the destination image, only a: drive is allowed to
be chose.

I want to send the destination image to another partition not a: drive
for obvious reasons.

thanks

 

[Rod Speed]

I am using ghost exe.

What version ?

and am choosing from Partition to Image.....
All source partitions are seen and I go ahead and
choose the partition that I required to be ghosted.

But when choosing the destination image,
only a: drive is allowed to be chose.

Ghost will do that if it decides that there isnt ENOUGH
room on the other possible destination drives.

 

[mark]

7.5 version

also I was told that the destination drive (aka partition) should be FAT ?

 

[mark]

is the second partition FAT ?

and also what is the location of the partition and size ? meaning does
the second partition have to be within the first 8GB ?

I am able to select the source correctly (ghost sees all the
partitions fine and lets me choose the required partition)
But the problem arises when I have to choose the destination where the
ghost image should be placed. The only destination is a: drive ?

The partition where I intend to store the ghost image is NTFS and
10GB. (size is not an issue)

 

[Groove]

mark said this...

is the second partition FAT ?

==> Yes

and also what is the location of the partition and size ? meaning does
the second partition have to be within the first 8GB ?

==> target partition is 50Gb into the disk, waaay past the 8Gb point

I am able to select the source correctly (ghost sees all the
partitions fine and lets me choose the required partition)
But the problem arises when I have to choose the destination where the
ghost image should be placed. The only destination is a: drive ?

==> are you certain you're not missing other options in a drop-down menu?

The partition where I intend to store the ghost image is NTFS and
10GB. (size is not an issue)

==> maybe NTFS is the issue with your version of ghost. I regret I have no
experience with ghost and ntfs environment as yet.
What size is your source partition? How much space used?

 

[mark]

what is the size of this FAT partition ?

also I am using ghost 7.5 exe (from dos)